The Young Family Of The Revolutionary War

Martha Young and Samuel Young, state that their father, Joseph Youngs, deceased, was the owner of a house and farm, at the commencement of the revolutionary war, about three miles east of the Hudson river, on the road leading from Tarrytown to the White Plains; that, during the progress of the war, the house and buildings of the said Joseph Young were often occupied by the American troops when stationed on that part of the lines; that, in December, 1778, a Captain Williams, of the American army, after a sanguinary conflict, was captured in the said house by a party of refugees, who burnt the barn with its contents, and set fire to the house, (which the family, however, extinguished,) taking said Young into captivity, and retaining him in the most cruel confinement for the space of a year.

In February, 1780, a party of the American troops were captured at said house, by a superior British force, after a gallant resistance, at which time the house and all the buildings of the said Young were consumed, with his bedding and furniture. The buildings thus alleged to have been destroyed are estimated at the value of from $3,000 to $4,000. The depositions of several officers of the continental army, and other persons connected with the military service at that time, are offered to prove the facts. They all appear to have been taken since some time in the year 1817.

The committee have no doubt of the truth of the statements generally, though they certainly entertain doubts of a regular military occupancy of the premises, so as to justify the enemy in destroying them after the conflict had ceased, which fact is admitted by the petitioners. But the fact of there having been no ascertainment of the value of the buildings near the time of destruction, and of no claim having been presented, either to the accounting officers of the Government, or to the Congress, before :1817, presents sufficient obstacles, in the opinion of the committee, to its allowance. They therefore submit the following resolution:
Resolved, That the prayer of the petition ought not to be granted.

A BILL
FEBRUARY 4, 1836.
For the relief of the legal representatives of Joseph Young, deceased.

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled That there be paid o the heirs and legal representatives of Joseph Young, late of Westchester county, in the State of New York, deceased, the sum of four thousand three hundred and twenty dollars, in full of all claims the estate of the said deceased may have against the United States for the loss of property. Owing to its being taken for public use; and that the said sum be paid out of any moneys in the Treasury not otherwise appropriated.
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A BILL
DECEMBER 22, 1837.
For the relief of the heirs of Joseph Young, deceased.

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That the propel’ officers of the Treasury Department be, and they are hereby, authorized and directed to pay to the legal representatives of Joseph Young, deceased, the sum of three thousand one hundred dollars, as compensation in full for the dwelling-house, out-houses, and barn, of said Young, burnt by the enemy in the time of the Revolution, whilst in the occupation of the United States by her troops, out of any money in the Treasury not otherwise appropriated.